The Canadian beat France’s Dany Dann in entrance of a partisan crowd to take the first-ever males’s gold medal in breaking.
Canada’s B-Boy Phil Wizard received the inaugural Olympic males’s breaking gold in Paris and stated he hoped it “opens doorways to folks” concerned within the high-energy dance sport.
Phil Wizard, whose actual identify is Philip Kim, beat France’s B-Boy Dany Dann in Saturday’s closing amid the opulent grandeur of the Place de la Concorde, with B-Boy Victor of USA taking bronze.
Breaking, higher often known as breakdancing, is making its first and probably final look on the Olympics, having been left off the programme for Los Angeles 2028.
Phil Wizard stated that breaking was “an underappreciated sport” and hoped its Olympic debut would change folks’s minds.
“I hope that at present was an ideal instance of exhibiting the world how unimaginable breaking is – that was actually my solely aim right here,” stated the 27-year-old, a former world champion.
“I’m so grateful and so completely satisfied to come back out with the win however greater than something, I simply needed to indicate the world what breaking is.”
The competitors noticed 16 dancers, often known as B-Boys, going head-to-head in a sequence of battles, beginning with a pool stage earlier than transferring to a knock-out spherical.
Phil Wizard had the group towards him within the closing towards native hero Dany Dann, a 36-year-old with blue hair whose actual identify is Danis Civil.
However the Canadian quickly had them consuming out of his hand because of his unimaginable routine, for which the judges awarded him a 3-0 victory.
“I used to be stressed of my thoughts,” stated Phil Wizard.
“It’s been a whirlwind of emotion. I cried my eyes out as a result of I used to be so scared to do that.
“There’s been quite a lot of strain, quite a lot of expectations – I’m glad I used to be capable of ship.”
‘All about self-expression’
Danny Dann, a former European champion, stated he felt like he had “represented breaking” to the world.
“I’m delighted, I actually didn’t suppose I’d win this medal,” he stated, revealing that he dyed his hair blue as a result of it was his “fortunate color”.
“I simply went there to see how issues would go and I’m going residence with a silver medal!”
Regardless of the spectacular strikes on present, Phil Wizard stated the panel of judges had been searching for “one thing new each spherical”.
“It’s possible you’ll effectively suppose it’s essentially the most explosive, loopy dynamic actions that rating essentially the most factors,” he stated.
“However in breaking, there’s quite a lot of totally different classes and crucial factor is originality and variety of motion.”
The B-Boys carry out on a round stage, accompanied by DJs pumping out hip-hop classics and MCs hyping up the group.
Breaking originated within the block events held within the Bronx in New York within the Seventies.
B-Boy Victor, also called Victor Montalvo, stated the competitors represented “the true essence of hip hop and breaking tradition”.
“We simply wish to be sure that we present everybody that it’s a dance, to start with,” stated Victor, who beat Japan’s Shigekix for the bronze medal.
“It’s all about self-expression, it’s all about originality. It’s not nearly massive strikes.”
